Li Jin was a little over fifty years old this year, the age of knowing one’s destiny.

Today, as usual, he wanted to go for a stroll, but the town’s constable stopped him at the street entrance.

“What do you mean?” Old Man Li glared, puffing his beard.

The surname Li was the second most common surname in Green Goat Town, second only to Hu.

Therefore, as a highly respected elder of the Li clan, he was also highly respected throughout Green Goat Town.

He knew this constable, the Wang family’s boy. How dare he, dressed in a dogskin uniform, block his way? Unthinkable!

“Old Li,” Constable Wang said ingratiatingly, “The Town Hall has issued an order. During this time, a curfew is in effect. No one is allowed to wander the streets. Everyone must stay at home!”

“Why a curfew?”

“Didn’t two people die of illness a few days ago? The Warden thinks it’s very dangerous and wants everyone to avoid the risk for a while. After the danger passes, you can come out for a stroll!”

“Old Hu Gen knows nothing! I know that old fool!” Old Man Li confronted Constable Wang, “Does he think I’m illiterate? Did you see the public notice issued from the city? This disease is nothing, get out of my way!”

Constable Wang looked embarrassed: “Sir, this… it’s always good to be careful. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“As the saying goes, ‘At fifty, one knows one’s destiny.’ Do you understand what ‘knowing one’s destiny’ means? I’m this old, what am I afraid of?” Old Man Li glared, “If I get sick and die, I won’t blame you, okay?”

With that, he pushed open the barrier erected at the street entrance.

As he walked out, he muttered: “In a peaceful world, they won’t even let me go out! How strange! Am I breaking the law that they treat me like a criminal?”

Constable Wang exchanged a helpless glance with his colleague and pretended not to hear.

This was not an isolated incident. With the promulgation of the public notice from Jia City, the common people were not afraid at all. Even those few who advised people to be careful were mostly regarded as spreading rumors.

Even in places like Green Goat Town, which took the matter seriously early on, it was difficult to implement restrictions. At least nominally, Green Goat Town was still under the jurisdiction of Jia City.

The so-called curfew was practically useless.

Inside the Town Hall.

Jiang Wang crumpled the public notice into a ball and threw it to the ground.

With the powerful Dao Yuan mixed in, the ball of waste paper created a pit in the ground.

Hu Gen was shocked and slumped into his chair.

Jiang Wang looked at him coldly: “I gave you the power, I bore the losses, you didn’t have to do anything but implement my orders. But you couldn’t even do that. You are responsible for every death in the town. Hu Gen, your sins are heavy, a hundred deaths are not enough to atone for them!”

Hu Gen’s face was ashen.

“I am also responsible for entrusting the position to such a useless person!”

Jiang Wang flung his sleeves and left the Town Hall, issuing orders as he walked: “Xiaoxiao stays in the Town Hall, temporarily assuming all duties of the Warden, and coordinating supplies. Zhang Hai is in charge, all village chiefs and constables, anyone who disobeys or refuses to comply can be killed! All constables and warriors, move immediately, starting today, no one is allowed to wander the streets, everyone must stay indoors. With the Town Hall as the center, Xiang Qian and Zhu Biqiong, patrol the east and west districts respectively.”

The thousands of miles of trekking from Zhuang to Qi had tempered his understanding of the world.

Faced with this crisis, he became even more decisive and efficient: “I will personally go to the villages below. First, implement the curfew, and then investigate the condition of each household. This large-scale outbreak… I suspect it is a plague!”

“What if the people refuse to be quarantined?” Xiang Qian asked, “Are they also killed?”

Jiang Wang stopped and glanced at him: “We are isolating ourselves from the outside world to save the people. If you kill them, what is the point of what we are doing? For those who refuse, focus on persuasion. If persuasion fails, then enforce it. Fines and grain can be imposed, and punishment can be administered as appropriate!”

“Understood!”

Jiang Wang went directly to the villages in the town area alone with his sword to investigate, and the others also got busy.

Hu Gen, stripped of his power, languished in his position, his face ashen.

Du Gu Xiao began to arrange affairs, and he seemed to come back to his senses, stood up, and staggered out.

He was like a living corpse.

Du Gu Xiao only glanced at him indifferently and continued to do her own thing.

She helped Hu Gen explain earlier only to show Jiang Wang her value.

She had no affection for Hu Gen himself.

It was Hu Gen who hired her to the mine, which led to her abuse by Ge Heng. Although Hu Gen himself may not have known about Ge Heng’s cruelty, the fact that he caused it could not be erased.

The reason she didn’t take revenge was only because Jiang Wang forbade it.

Fortunately, after this incident, his meager “friendship” with Jiang Wang had been exhausted.

This was the price he paid for his incompetence and self-righteousness.

Having been with Jiang Wang for so long, Du Gu Xiao had long understood that Jiang Wang was not a person who would shift blame or shirk responsibility. As long as his requirements were met, if the mistake was in his decision, he would never let others bear it.

And in this matter, Warden Hu Gen’s terrible performance… Jiang Wang’s not killing him on the spot was already a restrained result.

Hu Gen dragged his feet out of the Town Hall.

It was already June, and the sun was no longer gentle.

Especially at noon, the naked sun shone on him, like needles pricking him.

Hu Gen squinted his eyes, but could not stop his muddy tears.

He was actually a simple person. He was not sad that he had lost his temporary power.

When he was a foreman at the Hu family mine, he never embezzled. When he became the Warden of Green Goat Town, he never sought wealth for himself.

He had no children, only a fierce old wife. The couple had no great material desires.

So even after becoming the Warden, he still lived in his previous house.

What really saddened him was that just now, he realized that he had become a “murderer”.

If he had strictly followed Jiang Wang’s previous orders and isolated the inside from the outside, perhaps many townspeople would not have had to die today.

As Jiang Wang said, every person who died of illness in the town today was Hu Gen’s responsibility!

How could his old and frail shoulders bear this?

Jiang Wang acted vigorously. As soon as the order was issued, he went to the villages himself. Those places lacked control even more, and he could only deal with it personally with his extraordinary cultivation.

But in Green Goat Town, it was not so simple to implement.

The people of the entire Green Goat Town area had not paid enough attention before.

Under the command of Du Gu Xiao, posting new public notices, announcing the severity of the disease, dispersing crowds gathered everywhere… all of this took time.

And the manpower of a Green Goat Town Hall was really scarce.

Hu Gen wandered out in a daze, and every crowd he saw on the road made him feel cold.

If it was a plague…

If it really was a human plague that had broken out…

He didn’t dare imagine the consequences.

“Elders and folks! I’m telling you!”

Hu Gen walked to the edge of the crowd and suddenly shouted: “A serious illness has broken out in Green Goat Town, and dozens of people have died!”

“It’s very likely a human plague!”

“Go back to your houses quickly, don’t gather together, don’t go out!”

He shouted once every place he passed.

Many people knew him.

He was born, grew up, married, and grew old in this Green Goat Town.

Many people here trusted him.

Seeing this sad little old man, some people felt strange, some people felt confused, but more people chose to believe him.

Finally, in the largest market in Green Goat Town, the market on the west side of the town.

People saw their current Warden, Hu Gen, holding a ladder and climbing tremblingly to the roof.

He was old and dying, standing on the roof was not tall, but hunched over.

He repeated loudly what he had repeated all the way before.

But his already hoarse voice did not make people hear him very clearly.

Only in the end did he shout hoarsely: “The deaths of so many people are all my fault!”

“I apologize to you!”

He fell headfirst from the roof to the ground.

Like a watermelon exploding.

It remained in the memories of many people.

Writing this book so hard to this point, enduring so much ridicule, and surviving so many painful nights, if it suddenly disappeared, the blow to me might be devastating.

So why am I still writing this?

I explained it once in the reader group. Given that many people have questions now and are all people who truly love this book, I have to explain it again.

The plague story was planned long ago.

But without the current experience, it would be difficult to write so realistically. Nor would I have the emotions that are boiling in my heart now.

I do want to record something. Literature conveys the Dao, words express emotions. My emotions and Dao have prompted me to do this. What else can a writer do for this world if they don’t use words to speak out?

I want that in a few years or decades, if someone picks up this novel and sees this part, they will remember that we experienced such things, encountered these disgusting and dark moments, and that there were also people who pierced through the darkness to see the light.

I only hope that everyone keeps it in their hearts and tries not to discuss the world outside the book. After all, after prosperity, democracy, and civilization, there is harmony.

The above is my explanation.

A reader’s comment touched me deeply. He said, “Isn’t it good to sit and talk about the Dao?”

But, this is my Dao.

I have discussed and voiced my opinions openly and secretly on Weibo, Zhihu, and WeChat public accounts.

I really don’t know what else I can do besides speaking out! Donating some money is just a drop in the bucket.

The feedback I have received one after another has made me realize that this novel now carries the expectations of some people.

I really need to be careful and protect our common world.

Thank you again for your care.

——Qing Heyi Shen, at 9:00 AM.